The Silver Chair!

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis was published in 1953 and is the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia. The book featured illustrations by Pauline Baynes. It is the first book which does not feature a member of the immediate Pevensie clan as a protagonist, but it does feature Eustace Scrubb, a cousin. Eustace was featured in the previous novel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and he matured mightily as a consequence of his adventures in that book. 

This book starts a year or so later and introduces us to Jill Pole, a young girl in the same school as Eustace, who is being harassed by other students in the school. Lewis is highly critical of modern schools which deviated from traditional formats for education and which in his opinion failed to form the character of their charges. In an attempt to save her Eustace and Jill end up in Narnia where she meets Aslan who gives her a quest. She shares this with Eustace, and they find themselves seeking the lost prince of the kingdom, the son of King Caspian. As it turns out, this time decades have passed since Eustace was last in Narnia and Caspian is an old man. 

Eustace and Polly are led to Puddleglum, a Marsh-Wiggle who despite his dour outlook becomes a reliable guide for the two children as they trek through harsh conditions to find the lost Prince. There are many hardships, but none so immediately dangerous as a city full of giants who consider mankind a delicacy. They are led on their journey by signs given to our young heroine by Aslan himself, but they keep bungling the signs. Nonetheless they eventually end up in a sprawling underground realm where all manner of secrets are revealed, including that of the insidious silver chair. 

In many ways this story struck me as the most classic adventure yet. We have limited personnel on his trek and the danger they encounter feels somehow a little grimmer than in previous books in the series which always kept a somewhat more whimsical character. The book may suffer from too many endings, but that's common in fantasy I find. 

Next time wrap all this up with The Last Battle. 

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